The present invention relates generally to medical devices and methods and apparatus related thereto for use within the body. The medical devices can include pressurized therapeutic devices, implants, implant delivery devices, implant retrieval devices, expandable membrane enclosures or balloons, sponges, attenuators, space occupying members, space creating devices, drug delivery devices, data collection devices, nerve stimulation devices, wave producing devices, vibration producing devices, pressure sensing devices, chemical sensing devices, volume sensing devices, and therapeutic devices. The medical devices can be used for many different purposes and in many places within the body including, but not limited to the following systems of the human body: cardiovascular, pulmonary, renal/urological, gastrointestinal, hepatic/biliary, gynecological, neurological, musculoskeletal, otorhinolaryngological and ophthalmic, as well as in and around organs of the body and in intra- and inter-organ space.
In some embodiments, methods and devices for maintenance of inflated implants within the body over time is discussed. In some embodiments, methods and devices for space creation or expansion within the body is discussed. In some embodiments, the treatment of disorders or pathological symptoms of the urinary tract caused by sudden fluctuations of intravesical pressure is discussed.
An example of a problem where there is a need for improved medical devices and methods is dealing with pressure events in the body. Pressure changes are known to propagate through incompressible or compressible fluids in various organs of the body. These pressure events or changes may be caused by a number of events including events within the body, such as a beating heart, breathing in the lungs, peristalsis actions in the GI tract, movement of the muscles of the body, or events such as coughing, laughing, external trauma to the body, and movement of the body relative to gravity. As the elasticity, or compliance, of the surrounding tissues and organs decreases, the propagation, magnitude, or amplitude of these pressure changes, waves, or events increases. These pressure events have many undesirable effects ranging from discomfort, to stress on the organs and tissue, to fluid leakage such as urinary incontinence, to renal failure, stroke, atherosclerosis, heart attack and blindness.